Land-Feels and Beach Front Properties
Land-Feels and Beachfront Properties showcases work by Michael Radyk that stemmed from his 2019 textiles and material research project at the Clothworkers’ Center for Textiles at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. In this resulting series, Radyk utilizes recycled industrial yarns, repurposed plastic tape, and heavy cotton. These materials are handwoven with a classic corduroy fabric structure and then hand cut. The resulting forms are inspired by the visual landscape of Radyk’s 1970’s childhood: shale mounds, strip mines, and landfills; brightly colored and toxically infused local waters; summer camps, pool days, and art making from repurposed junk. Together, Radyk’s material research and personal memory offer us a much-altered space of reimagined landscapes, emotional color, and temptatious touch.
About the artist:
Michael Radyk is an artist who explores woven textiles and the qualities inherent in their structure, production, design, craft, and history. He uses both the hand loom and Jacquard loom to produce his work. Michael designs, weaves, cuts, sculpts, and manipulates his textiles into both two and three-dimensional sculptural forms.
His work Swan Point is included in the Textile Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Recent exhibitions include: “Structured,” Textile Center, Joan Mondale Gallery, Minneapolis, MN; “Focus: Fiber-Kent State University Museum,” Kent, OH; and the Invitational Biannual Exhibition, “International Fiber Art Fair,” Seoul Arts Center, Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul, South Korea.
Michael’s work is featured in the books Artistry in Fiber, Vol.1: Wall, and Artistry in Fiber, Vol. 2: Sculpture, published by Schiffer Publishing Ltd. and the exhibition catalogues Influence and Evolution: Fiber Sculpture…then and now, and Blue/Green: color/code/context published by browngrotta arts.
